Well, well, well... Shipped the alpha product to 17 customers. Pretty stoked. Tired. But stoked.

Since I'm about to ship the alpha product of my fintech startup (a B2B SaaS solution for nonprofits) called Rōmy (https://getromy.app/), I thought I'd reactivate this Community on the "Hobby Plan" and share my journey raising money for it. Longer and no-holds-barred post coming soon about my closed angel/FFF round and Indiegogo debacle. Heading toward $500k Pre-Seed VC round later this month.

Networked. I came across a different community that feels very LinkedIn-ish, which is where 90% of my founder and investor connections have come. It's called Networked (https://nco.page.link/sWC8), and it may feel to you like a comfortable drawing room off the living room that is LinkedIn. We are looking for founders of venture-scale companies. That's who our network of investors and allied professionals is also seeking. Next week I'll be at Venture Dallas, after being at closed investor events this Thursday night and Friday in Austin. Next month there will be a flurry of venture activity in neighboring Fort Worth, culminating with Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth demo day in early December. Here in the Hill Country, we are building a regional accelerator to launch in late 2025 and focusing on these sectors: - Aviation - Aerospace/defense - Agritech/agribusiness - Aquaculture/viticulture - Automotive - Energy - Supply chain related to above We are raising a $10M fund to invest $100k into as many as 100 early-stage companies, which will go through a similar competitive application process to other accelerators. If within a year of graduating the program a company commercializes, it is eligible to apply to a second fund that will award 5-10 Seed stage investments of up to $1M. We are partnering with the county's Economic Development Corporation to offer incentives to the best companies in these sectors, hoping they will go through the accelerator, commercialize and stay local to create jobs and grow for years to come. 👉 If this sounds like you, please click HERE 👉 Texas Hill Country Accelerator Founders' Community

My fundraising coaching and execution will be moving from Skool. This community will be an entry point for founders to come and receive answers to their basic questions about starting a company that might become venture-backed. Stay tuned. If you want to stay in touch and your email is different from the one you list on Skool, please DM me and give me your preferred email address.

*Very* early landing page and site, guys. Please navigate over and sign up. It's free for now. 👉 https://joinlyra.com/ 👈